She is as forceful in denying the charges as her brother. The High Sparrow calls Queen Margaery as a witness, saying that nobody is exempt from testimony. Loras denies all of the charges against him - fornication, blasphemy, even buggery - and does so with conviction. At Loras’s upcoming trial, Cersei suggests this his acquittal will be a mere formality, but her smirk as Olenna departs hints otherwise.Īt Loras’s trial, he is cross-examined by the High Sparrow. Sometimes you have to work with your rivals. She then gives Cersei a version of “I knew Tywin Lannister and you’re no Tywin Lannister.” See, he wasn’t likable or trustworthy, but he understood how the world worked. Olenna threatens stop the flow of gold and food into King’s Landing. Cersei feigns shock at Loras’s arrest it wasn’t her, it was the Faith. “And famous tart, Queen Cersei,” Olenna replies. “The famously tart-tongued Queen of Thorns,” Cersei greets her. Their initial back and forth does not disappoint. After a quick check-in with Queen Margaery, Olenna confronts Cersei. She is not happy to be back in the capital for both the surroundings (“you can smell the s- from five miles away”) and the circumstances (her grandson’s ridiculous detainment). King’s Landing has another quick-witted visitor - Lady Olenna of House Tyrell. Finally they get to the point: She wants to know if the Knights of the Vale will support the crown in battle and Littlefinger says he has always counseled loyalty to the throne, which isn’t quite a straight yes, is it? She is great at doing that thing where she’s obviously lying and taking delight in lying straight to someone’s face and they know she’s lying right to their face but can’t do anything about it. Cersei says she is the one who is insulted by these events, since he was promised to her and he chose the company of boys instead. Once he finds the Queen Mother, he questions her decision to have Loras, the heir of Highgarden, arrested. Mine just happen to be entertaining,” the quip-ready Littlefinger replies. Upon his return to King’s Landing he’s greeted by Brother Lancel, who reminds Lord Baelish that things have changed in King’s Landing and they don’t take kindly to smut merchants ’round here these days. Theon’s face as the episode ends is one of sadness, disgust, guilt and anger - about what we all felt while watching that transpire.įirst, Cersei tends to business with the recently-summoned Littlefinger. Because Ramsay is Ramsay, he orders Theon to remain in the room to bear witness to the vicious attack on his now-wife. Back in their quarters, you get the feeling things are going to bad - Ramsay is involved, so it almost goes without saying - but at first there’s hope that it will just be more of his uncomfortable line of questioning and will end there. It’s a brief ceremony - the longest moment was the dramatic pause before Sansa agreed to go through with it. Notable is that Theon is able to refer to himself as Theon of House Greyjoy, the first official acknowledgment of his past, and perhaps a springboard into reclaiming his identity. Sansa wants nothing to do with him, of course, but he still walks her down the aisle to the weirwood tree.
After she’s in her gown, Theon/Reek comes to escort her to the ceremony. So let’s choose to remember that moment of strength on Sansa’s wedding night.